Mota-Engil, a Portuguese engineering and construction conglomerate, is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire the idle Bahia Mineração (Bamin) mine together with the West-East Integration Railway (FIOL).
Controlled by the Eurasian Resource Group (ERG), headquartered in Kazakhstan, Bamin has already exported iron ore using logistics mining company Vale, but ceased operations. last year when ERG decided to sell the project including the Pedra de Ferro mine and the FIOL railway concession.
In total, it will cost about $5 billion to complete the work, including the construction of the last stage of FIOL, the expansion of the Pedra de Ferro mine capacity from the current 1.0 million tons per year to 20 million tons per year, and the construction of an offshore iron ore terminal at Ilhéus, both located in the state Bahia
According to the Brazilian press, the sale of Bamin is in its final stages and is currently being reviewed by ANTT, Brazil's land transport agency.
As a bonus, the completion of the FIOL railway could pave the way for the development of other iron ore projects in Bahia.
